


Failing Up

by silkinsilence



Series: Moicy Week 2019 [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to...nope they're still enemies, F/F, Moicy Week, Moicy Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21739912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silkinsilence/pseuds/silkinsilence
Summary: ‍Her daily coffee dates with Doctor O'Deorain have left Angela thirsty, but the other doctor is not kind enough to indulge her.‍
Relationships: Moira O'Deorain/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler
Series: Moicy Week 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566913
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	Failing Up

**Author's Note:**

> For Moicy Week 2019 Day 1: Success/Failure.

Moira O’Deorain always took her coffee break at three in the afternoon, and she always came to the main cafeteria for it. She had said before that it was because the coffee was better, which was true, but Angela thought she also liked stretching her legs and getting out of Blackwatch’s sector of the base. After all, when one put as much cream and sugar into the cup as Moira did, the base flavor seemed irrelevant.

Angela also liked to think Moira had an ulterior motive for coming to the main cafeteria. _She_ certainly did. Somehow it had become routine.

Angela would never call them friends. She was frankly loath to call them coworkers. But somehow argument had become debate, and debate had become banter, and on the rarest of occasions banter had become flirtation. Despite herself, she found herself looking forward to those occasions.

And then, on a memorable afternoon two weeks ago, a comment she’d made had really gotten Moira’s notice, and she’d stopped to stare down at Angela. She looked so handsome like that, eyes shadowed, top button undone, and Angela had found the courage to stand on her toes and wrap her hand around the back of Moira’s neck and pull her down.

The kiss was brief—they were in the middle of the hall, after all—but Moira kissed with a purpose and a bite that left Angela hungry for more since that moment.

And now the peculiar object of her desire and disdain was strolling into the room with her mug in hand to join her by the machine. Angela moved aside and took a sip from her steaming cup to hide her smile.

“Doctor O’Deorain.”

“Doctor Ziegler,” Moira said brusquely, offering her a sidelong glance while she hit the buttons on the screen. “You’re chipper. Is that decaf?”

“Of course not. I won’t be chipper by midnight.”

“I wonder.”

Moira was decidedly not chipper, and Angela noted she added an extra sugar packet to her customary three. Were they friends, she would have asked if Moira was all right, but they were not friends.

“Experiment gone wrong?”

Moira frowned.

“Not at all.”

They collected their mugs and began walking together out of the cafeteria toward the medical wing, as had become their routine.

“One of your lab rats escape?”

“Yes, his name is McCree. Let me know if you see him,” Moira deadpanned, and Angela couldn’t help but chuckle. Moira’s lips twitched upward, but her expression remained stony. In profile she was regal, her nose long and well-defined, her cheekbones high, red hair disheveled and carelessly pushed back.

“Next time, I’d advise against human subjects,” Angela said pertly. “Perhaps your papers would receive more positive attention that way.”

Moira stopped walking. She looked down at Angela. Her lip was half-curled and her eyes dark. She took another step, then, toward her, as if pushing Angela back toward the wall.

Angela wondered what it would take for Moira to really push her. What she would need to do for the other doctor to set upon her as if they were in private, coming together to a conclusion that both of them surely knew was foregone.

The hallway was empty. Moira’s button-down was grey with a faint argyle pattern. Angela’s skin was tingling and her heart going inappropriately fast for a conversation with a coworker.

“But if I’d never written of human experimentation, Blackwatch would never have hired me. You would have never approached me to scold me in the cafeteria. We wouldn’t be here,” Moira said evenly.

She took another step. Angela’s back found the wall. The hallway was still empty, but this was a very bad idea, and she couldn’t have been more ready for it.

“Besides, I lack your methods of generating positive attention, Doctor Ziegler,” Moira said quietly, almost as an afterthought, and for the first time that afternoon her lips curled into a true smile.

“Pardon?” Angela said, frowning.

“Come now,” Moira said. Her tone was patronizing. Something in her face was too. The buzzing energy under Angela’s skin slowed and dissipated. This was not what she wanted. “You don’t think you’ve earned your successes through hard work, do you?”

“Excuse me?” Angela straightened against the wall. The feeling in her stomach had morphed.

Moira tsked softly. “The bright Swiss orphan who studied medicine to save others from her parents’ fate? The pretty blue-haired blonde who looks good on a magazine?”

A few moments ago, Angela would have given almost anything to hear Moira call her pretty. Now the words burned in her ears. A different kind of heat prickled over her.

“What are you—?”

Moira turned away and began walking again. Her long strides forced Angela, embarrassingly, to half-run to catch up to her again.

“You think Overwatch recruited you because you worked hard enough, and not because you already fit the role of angel so well? They need good press now more than ever. Don’t be stupid, Angela.”

The accusation, delivered so smoothly, felt like a blow. Angela’s cheeks were hot with sudden anger as she sought for the words to defend herself.

“I was—in college at fifteen. I graduated top of my class—”

“What a coincidence; so did I. And so did countless others. There are rather a lot of classes in the world.”

“I did everything that was required of me and more. Overwatch—Strike Commander Morrison and Commander Amari recruited me because my skills would be a boon to the organization! I have worked hard to get where I am!”

Suddenly the words seemed hollow. Suddenly she was remembering her interviews and wondering if the person on the other side of the table had been looking at her or straight through.

“Of course,” Moira said, smiling. She gestured to her right with an airy hand. “I think you missed your stop.”

If possible, Angela felt her cheeks grow even warmer. Sure enough, she’d walked right past the door to her medbay. She came to a halt there, staring between the doorway and Moira, walking away.

She needed to say something to defend herself, something that would prove Moira absolutely wrong.

But she had nothing.

“I needed this. A good pick-me-up,” Moira called over her shoulder, lifting her mug in a cocky farewell. “See you tomorrow, Doctor Ziegler.”

It sounded more like a threat than a promise.

But perhaps, by tomorrow, Angela would have found the words.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments always appreciated!


End file.
